Ship Mage
Requirements To qualify to become a Ship Mage, a character must fulfil the following criteria *Skills: Knowledge (Engineering) 5 ranks, Profession (Air Sailor) 5 ranks, Spellcraft 5 ranks. *Feats: Toughness, Any one metamagic feat from the following: Empower Spell, Maximize Spell, Widen Spell *Spells: Able to cast 3rd level arcane spells. Hit Dice: d8 Ship Mage Class Skills The Ship Mage's class skills are Appraise (Int), Craft (Int), Diplmacy (Cha), Knowledge (All) (Int), Linguistics (Int), Perception (Wis), Profession (Wis), and Spellcraft (Int). Skill Ranks per Level: 2 + Int modifier. Class Features The following are class features of the Ship Mage. Weapon and Armor Proficiencies (Ex) The Ship Mage does not gain any new weapon or armor proficiencies. Spell Casting (Sp) The Ship Mage gains +1 to an arcane spellcasting caster level every level except first. This caster level increase both spells known (for spontaneous caster) and spells per day for one class. He does not gain any other class abilities from that class. Air Legs (Ex) A ship mage is more accustomed to an airship than other mages. He gains a +4 to Acrobatics and Profession (Air Sailor) when making balance checks onboard an airship. Weapon Guidance (Su) A ship mage may work closely with a single weapon crew in order to provide magical guidance. As a standard action a ship mage may sacrifice a spell and touch a weapon on the ship. This weapon gains a bonus to attack and damage equal to the level of the spell sacrificed for its next attack. Charge Arcane Engine (Su) At 2nd level a ship mage becomes capable of infusing an arcane engine with far more power than normal. When sacrificing a spell to power an arcane engine, the ship mage may add his class level to the number of spell levels to power the engine. For example, a 2nd level ship mage that sacrifices a 2nd level spell to power an arcane engine instead counts that spell as if it were 4th level. Ship Bond (Su) At 3rd level the ship mage gains the ability to weave a piece of his essence into the ship, granting it abilities and using it for his own. As a full round action the ship mage may bond with a ship he is in contact with. It takes no action to maintain but the ship mage may end it as a free action. This bond provides a number of bonuses and abilities and many further abilities gained require it. While the bond is active the ship receives a +2 bonus to Fortitude and Reflex saves. In addition, whenever a ship mage casts a spell while bonded, he may choose to have the source of the spell originate from anywhere on the ship's hull, internal or external. Finally, by spending a full round action to concentrate, a ship's mage may see from anywhere on the ship and gains a +10 to Perception checks. This allows him to see anywhere inside the ship, as well as see anywhere outside the ship. The mage can see as if he were standing in that location. The bond is not without its drawbacks. Whenever the ship takes damage from a spell, the ship mage takes damage equal to the spell level. If the ship takes damage from a non-spell source, the ship mage takes damage equal to the number of damage dice of the weapon. (i.e. if the ship takes damage from a ballista that does 3d8 damage, the ship mage takes 3 damage. If the ship saves against the spell then the ship mage takes half of the damage. Ship Bond lasts a number of minutes equal to the ship mage's highest arcane caster level, not counting the round he begins the bond. He may use this ability once per day plus one every three levels of Ship Mage beyond 3rd (twice at 6th, three times at 9th). Maneuverability Manipulation (Su) Starting at 4th level, while Ship Bond is active, the maneuverability of the ship increases by half the ship mage's level. Additionally, the ship mage may spend a full round action and sacrifice a spell level. He may target an enemy ship and reduce its maneuverability by a number equal to the spell level for one round (Fort negates). Treat the DC of this ability as a spell of the spell level sacrificed. The range of this ability is long (400' + 40'/caster level). Ship Shield (Su) At 5th level a Ship Mage gains Arcane Shield as a bonus feat. He does not need to meet the prerequisits. If bonded with the ship, he may give the deflection bonus to the ship instead. In all other ways using arcane shield works exactly like the feat. Penetrating Blast (Su) At 6th level a Ship Mage gains Arcane Blast as a bonus feat. If targeting an airship, instead of dealing its normal damage, he may instead deal 1 hull point of damage per spell level used. If bonded with the ship, he may use the ship as the source of the blast and increase the range to long. Power Ship (Su) At 7th level the ship mage is able to channel his energy into the ship to keep it flying in an emergency. While using Ship Bond, the ship mage can sacrifice a spell to grant half the normal amount of Power Factors to the ships engine from anywhere on the ship, even if the engine is destroyed. This ability works even if the engine is not arcane, but if it is not an arcane engine it cannot be used if the engine is still functional. If the amount of Power Factors is enough to keep the ship flying, then it remains so. If it is still not enough to fly the ship, then the pilot gains a bonus to his Airship Pilot checks equal to the spell level sacrificed that round. Improved Ship Bond (Su) At 8th level the bonus to saving throws while using Ship Bond is increased to +4. Penetrate Hull (Su) At 9th level the ship mage is able to infuse every spell with penetrating power. Every spell that a ship mage casts at a ship automatically overcomes the hardness of objects, granting the ability to critically hit the ship's components, although energy spells still do half damage if they would normally do so. Additionally, the threat range of all of the ship mages spells increases to 19-20. Engine of Destruction (Su) At 10th level the ship mage has reached the peak in his ability to bond with a ship. While bonded with a ship he is able to draw power from the engines to fuel his own spells. This lowers the engine's power factor by 10 for 1d4 rounds. The ship mage's next spell gains +2 caster level and is automatically empowered and maximized without raising the level of the spell. There is no limit to how many times a ship mage can use this ability, but it cannot be used while the power factor is lowered because of this ability.